A journalist once asked me about the connection between Lean Media and guerrilla marketing. Certainly, there is a possibility of test audiences being so taken with the demo version, rough cut, beta game, or manuscript that they feel compelled to tell all of their friends about it, thereby giving it a boost when it does launch.
At its heart, however, Lean Media is a production framework that lets creators think through early versions of the work and set up their teams. The purpose of tapping test audiences is not to market the media, but rather to improve it based on qualitative and quantitative feedback.
Any marketing boost, whether it’s pre-launch buzz or extra news coverage, is really a collateral benefit. If it comes your way, that’s great, but keep the focus on leveraging feedback to improve the media. If you get a lot of positive feedback, view that as validation that you are on the right track!